The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-01
Firel Firel

There is the changing of bells and rush.
ing of feet and the noise Of the engines
rafting over the stones, and voices cry
ing, "The mill is on fre-Marston's
MILL" Wake, wake, Jack Marston! Why
will you sleep still with just that smile
upon your ips2
Over at the little window woman
stands, looking out upon the sky that
glows with lurid light.
sob, God!"
She heard Jack Marston say that night:
will stay in the mill till twelve, Pier
son. l am going to look over some pa
pers."
Pierson is miles away, and it is only
ten o'clock. Three minutes later
woman rushes into the thropg, the red
light falls upon her face, deathlike in its
pallor. She catches man near by the
arms.
"Jerryl" she gasps; and the man turn
ing, cries, "Nan!"
| There is look in the mans eyes even
now that shows how much this girl is to
him, and sound in his voice that shows
how dear is the name he utters.
"Save him!" cries Nan. "He is in
there-Jack Marston!"
She has forgotten everything but that
he is the man she loves. Into the eyes
of the one beside her creeps pain in
tense, despairing.
"Save him! cries Nan again. "Jerry,
save himl
He loves this woman, and she bids him
save the one who holds what he had
hoped to win. Jerry Dougall turns away,
and for moment an evil light, lurid as
the baleful flames, glows in his eyes.
The next moment he is reused. Nan
has rushed past him, through the crowd,
right into the burning building.
For one moment Jerry stands mute,
then staggers against tree, with face
from which all light seems to have fed,
and with eyes that, looking, see not.
And through the binding smoke that
rolls in pillows about her, and almost
in the midst of the flames that stretch
out their fiery arms to encircle her, goes
Nan,
She has forgotten Cora, she has forgot
ten all the world; she remembers only
that Jack Marston is in that building,
and that she loves him. She knows every
nook and corner of the place; but before
she reaches the office she stope, and with
wiIdly-beating heart, calls. A voice
answers through the smoke, "Nan." 1t
is Jack, and, following the sound, she
goes right to him. In leaving tie Office
and endeavoring to escape, he had
stumbled against an iron bar, and lies
now, q heavy cross piece from some ma
chinery fallen across his arm, pinioned
and powerless Yet he looks up at her, as
she enters, with smile.
She scarcely heeds it, though; the bar is
heavy, but love gives her almost the
strength of Samson.
And she pushes it aside at length, and
Jack Marston staggered to his feet.
"Nan, he cries, holding out his hands;
but she grasps him by the arm.
"Come, there is not a moment to lose,"
she cries, and rushes toward the door.
The stairway is on fire.
For a moment both stand silent. Then
Jack draws her toward him. "Come into
the Office" he says.
Nan is pale and trembling, but there is
no trace of fear in the steady light of her
eyes.
She watches the flames creeping near-
er and nearer, the forked tongues fash
ing out here and there through the dense
smoke, like flashes of lightning in eky
of Egyptian darkness. Looking up, she
meets Jacks eyes, and in them sees a
light that drives from her all thought of
flames or death. He draws her very close
to him, and she looks up into his face.
"Are you ready to die, Jack?" she asks.
Above the memory of flames and horror,
above the memory of the awfulness of
that time, ehe will ever remember the
light that shone in Jack Marston's eyes,
and the happiness that rang in his
voice as he answers, " With you, yes" A
bending, a touching OF lips, and then
a shadow growing darker and darker,
hiding Jacks tace-a blank.
"Nanl". She hears his voice as she
open her eyes. She sees his face bending
over her, and little by little it all comes
back.
But they are not in the midst of fire
where-where are they?
She sees a face as figure glides away
"a face with blue eyes that she remem-
bers we'll; and then it all comes back to
her, and what she had forgotten before
Cora.
And she shrinks away from Jack and
covers her face with her hands. You
have no right" she says; " She"